True Freedom and Why you Need the ‘Greatest Form of Wealth’
Why Money Shouldn't Be the only measure of Happiness
Wealth and what constitutes wealth or the concept of the “highest form of wealth” is a debatable topic established on divergent views from society to society.
People are ‘rich’ according to society’s parameters. The Eastern concept of wealth differs greatly from our Western monetized economies.
But one grain runs common in every society, Wealth means freedom. Freedom from empty toil and labor, freedom to express talents and gifts, freedom to live your dream life, free from a paycheck, freed from the labor treadmill.
Former columnist at The Motley Fool and The Wall Street Journal Morgan Housel makes an interesting observation, he wrote, “The highest form of wealth is the ability to wake up every morning and say, “I can do whatever I want today.”
The highest form of wealth is that one thing in your control, a skill, talent, a gift, something you can put to work to achieve your goals and dreams.
This could be money, possessions, investments, or anything else that is beneficial to you and makes your life easier. The trick is to ensure it goes where you want it to go and does what you want it to do.
Wealth is easy to measure but hard to value.
The highest forms of wealth are measured differently.
A few stick out:
1. Controlling your time and the ability to wake up and say, “I can do whatever I want today.”
The independence of doing what you have to without someone else telling you how to do it and when to do it changes everything.
There’s a difference between working hard on your own terms and working hard because you are receiving orders from somebody else. Even if you’re doing the same work, the autonomy of doing it according to your conditions swaps all things in the same way that sleeping in a tent is fun when you’re camping but despairingly tragic when you’re homeless.
The greatest form of wealth is the ability to control your time though it’s never a guarantee.
It can be the opposite, especially when you have an abundance of wealth and not a moment of free time to control your schedule.
When your company or inheritance claims your time in equal proportion to its financial reward, that’s a form of “poverty” that many CEOs face out there.
American billionaire Charlie Munger, an investor, businessman, and former real estate attorney summed it up: “I did not intend to get rich. I just wanted to get independent.” It’s a wonderful goal, and harder to measure than net worth.
Charlie is the current vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett. Buffett has often described him as his closest partner and right-hand man.
2. When money becomes like oxygen: so abundant relative to your needs that you don’t have to think about it despite being a critical part of your life.
Spending more than you make will shrink your fortunes to bankruptcy. This is probably the greatest worry most people face.
A high form of wealth is living a worry-free life, but the irony is, we all have to worry every day, over something, even the wealthiest people think about money all the time.
But, despite aspiring to become wealthy, the ability to not have to think about money is an exquisite routine. This is an exceptional skill that’s powerful when you make it work when you know that the greatest form of wealth isn’t necessarily tied to how much money you have.
To achieve this state of mind, here are some useful tips:
- Desiring money beyond what you need to be happy is just an accounting hobby.
- The amount of money you need to be happy is driven more by your expectations than income.
- When your expectations relative to income are calibrated so you don’t have to think about money, you have a higher form of wealth as opposed to someone with more money, but who’s constantly thinking about making more.
3. A career that allows for intellectual honesty.
Honesty is the key to a wealthy state of mind. Having a job that lets you express your personality even as it pays you a paycheck is priceless.
This include:
- Admitting that you don’t know something without fear of ugly repercussions,
- Speaking critical truths about your industry without fear of retribution,
- Being open about your mistakes without excessive worry, and,
- Not pretending to look busy to justify your salary.
There are high-paying careers that allow all of these things. However, there are some that don’t.
What a lot of people, caught in the rat race, pass off as “hard work” or “grinding” is just an excuse to bury the truth about their poverty-stricken state of mind.
Final Thoughts:
Money can buy freedom and comforts of the world, but money is not the ultimate elixir to living a fulfilled life. You need money to express your gifts and talents and to live a purpose-filled life, but it shouldn’t be the measure of your happiness.
Accumulate true wealth, Jesus said, ‘store your wealth where it cannot be eaten by moths and vermin, Matthew 6:19. Help people. The more people you can help, the more rewarding your wealth will become.
The highest form of wealth is how many lives you can impact.
